If you’ve ever wanted to watch coolant swirl inside a phone, RedMagic has you covered. The company’s new 11S Pro arrives internationally with its liquid cooling system visible through a semi‑transparent back on every model — a bit of theater that doubles as a practical heat evacuation strategy for sustained gaming.
The headline changes are simple: an overclocked Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 Elite Leading Edition, a 7,500 mAh battery with 80W wired and wireless charging, and the now‑signature AquaCore cooling that mixes a 24,000 RPM fan with a flowing fluorinated liquid. Preorders begin June 3 and sales kick off June 10, with the 256GB model priced at $849 and the 512GB at $949.
Liquid cooling that’s no longer just a gimmick
RedMagic first put active cooling in its phones years ago, but this generation leans into the spectacle. When the phone ramps up under load the coolant moves in a visible circular pattern beneath the transparent rear; the company says it’s the industry’s first mass‑produced flowing fluorinated liquid solution. That sits alongside an enlarged vapor chamber, liquid metal, a turbo fan and the Energy CUBE 3.0 thermal management software. The bundled RedCore R4 gaming chip also helps balance performance, haptics and audio without touching the SoC.
This isn’t purely aesthetic: reviewers who pushed demanding titles like Genshin Impact and Call of Duty Mobile reported longer playable sessions before throttling became an issue. Still — and this matters — the phone can still feel warm in hand during lengthy marathons, particularly without a case.
The hardware you expect from a gaming flagship
Under the hood is Qualcomm’s Leading Edition of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 Elite — RedMagic says two of its Orion V3 Phoenix L cores can hit 4.74 GHz. You can pick either 12GB/256GB or 16GB/512GB configurations. The display is a 6.85‑inch BOE AMOLED running at 144Hz with a claimed 1,800‑nit peak brightness and a 2592Hz PWM flicker rate. There are shoulder triggers, a 16MP under‑display selfie cam, dual 50MP rear sensors (wide and ultrawide) and an IPX8 water resistance rating.
Battery life is one of the phone’s strengths: a large 7,500 mAh cell, 80W wired charging (chuck the cable in and you’ll see healthy top‑ups fast) plus 80W wireless charging — a useful touch for living-room couch sessions.
Trade‑offs: memory limits and a higher price
Not everything in the spec sheet is an upgrade. The international 11S Pro tops out at 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage; last year’s 11 Pro offered beefier 24GB/1TB options in some markets. RedMagic and other manufacturers have blamed global memory shortages for these caps, a shortage that’s reshaped product stacks across the industry.
Price has crept up too: the US starting point is $849, roughly $100 more than last fall’s 11 Pro. That puts the RedMagic closer in price to mainstream flagships like Samsung’s S26 series and OnePlus’s latest, phones that generally offer stronger cameras and broader day‑to‑day appeal. If you want to understand how Samsung is positioning its S26 family in the premium space, this writeup about the Galaxy S26 Ultra’s privacy display gives useful context (/news/galaxy-s26-ultra-privacy-display).
Software and quirks
The phone ships with RedMagic OS 11.5 on top of Android 16 and includes Google’s Gemini AI integrations. RedMagic has cleaned up some annoyances from earlier builds — fewer intrusive app popups and a tidier home‑screen left swipe experience — though the camera still enables a watermark by default (easy to turn off).
That gaming focus bleeds into other choices: haptics are strong, RGB lighting is customizable, and the company bundles game‑driven optimizations that kick in via the Energy Cube system. If you follow changes in mobile gaming distribution and how developers are packaging titles, Google Play’s moves around buy‑once games and trials are worth a read for anyone thinking about long‑term value on a phone like this (/news/google-play-buy-once-play-anywhere).
Who should consider the 11S Pro?
If you prioritize raw mobile gaming performance and the trappings that go with it — shoulder triggers, a built‑in fan, visible liquid cooling, and long battery life — the 11S Pro is compelling. It’s designed to keep frame rates steady during long sessions and to look the part while doing it.
If, however, you want the best camera system, the highest RAM/ storage ceilings, or a phone that’s equally adept at everyday photography and videography, mainstream flagships still have the edge. The 11S Pro is a specialist rather than a do‑everything device.
RedMagic’s strategy is clear: double down on features that matter to gamers, make the cooling a selling point, and accept narrower appeal elsewhere. Whether that bet pays off for the wider market will depend on how much shoppers value performance theatre (and visible coolant) over camera versatility.
Price and availability recap: preorders June 3, on‑sale June 10; US pricing starts at $849 for 256GB, $949 for 512GB. Nightfreeze (black transparent) and Subzero (silver transparent) are the two finishes offered internationally.
